COMMUNITY FORUM

Frustrated With Fan Wiring

Just learning to hang a new ceiling fan in my house. After turning off the power, I removed the old fixture to find three different cables (one I now believe to be a tracer? for the adjoining bedroom). To make a long story short I unwired all but one set of the wires and tried wiring just the fan. No luck. So, I attempted to rewire the fan (with moderate luck). The two rooms now have power but when flipping the switch that used to control the light it "popped" and now does nothing. The power is still there but the switch is dead. Please explain what the three different cables are for and how to properly wire the fan light to be controlled by the switch, but not the actual fan. Thanks!

That "pop" you heard was probably the contacts in the switch being blown off by a short circuit that you created.

Those three cables are probably, one power in. one power out and one out to a newly created switchless switch.

Maybe you should consider calling in an electrician to straighten this out. While he is at it, have him make sure that you have correctly supported the fan, there are code requirements that the average homeowner isn't aware of.

One thing I've learned over the years - when you disconnect wiring, make notes of exactly how it was, so you can put it back if need be. If there are several wires, put pieces of masking tape on each wire with reference numbers.